7/17/26

This month I got to celebrate the marriage of Cassi and Thomas Moore! It was a sweet and beautiful wedding, but the story I want to share with you is what happened at my table during the reception.

I sat down at my assigned seat as they ushered us in, and I began to ask the typical wedding socializing question to those who were already there: "How do you know the bride and groom" etc. After talking to one couple for about a half of an hour, we acquired some new additions to the conversation. Little did I know, the conversation they would inspire would enter us deep into the realm of Jewish mysticism, witchcraft, and the Christian Jesus.

The first addition to our table was a young woman named *Hannah. We started with the basic ice-breaker questions and learned some superficial things about interests, career, and connection to the happy couple, but the real excitement happened when we got around to getting our food. As we made our way to the delicious food, she mentioned some of her dietary limitations - namely that she's kosher. Now, the last gentleman to join our table was a unique fellow indeed - full of style, class, and conviction. During the cocktail hour, I talked with *Tyler, the new gentleman, and learned that he wants to be a missionary and has been in that process for many years now. We had an interesting conversation ourselves, but the real intriguing stuff came out when a conversation opened between all three of us - the Baptist, the Jew, and the Quaker. It sounds like the beginning of a good bar joke, but it was a dry wedding, so that's out.

As we ate, *Tyler and *Hannah sat next to each other and opened the topic of *Hannah's dietary restrictions as well as various foods the table has eaten from the corners of the world. Between *Tyler's missions experience, *Hannah's experience as the child of an English teacher in foreign countries, and the Asian couple at our table, I was reminded of how uneventful food can be in the USA - for better or worse. Along the way, *Hannah shared that she eats kosher due to being Jewish. I inquired about whether she is religiously or ethnically Jewish, to which she answered, "both". She told us about how her mother grew up Christian, but after experiencing church-hurt, they became nonreligious for a time. Then, after some historical uncovering, her mother found out that their family is Ashkenazi Jew, but that they hid their identity after immigrating to the US during the period of the Holocaust. With this discovery, her family reembraced this identity to, what they perceived to be, the fullest degree as both ethnic and religious. 

I asked, as the conversation progressed, what kind of Jew *Hannah is - that is to ask if she is Messianic or not. With her response being 'not Messianic', I inquired about why that is. There was much of a conversation that took place between the three of us primarily, but it only got more interesting as *Hannah eventually disclosed that she actively does medium work and regularly consults spirits. Not a very orthodox Jew. *Tyler and I were quite caught off guard as she said this, and we quickly inquired how she can justify this with the clear opposition the Jewish scriptures have to these practices. *Hannah then told us the alleged foundational principle of Judaism: follow the commands inasmuch as they serve to benefit you. Great, just another tragic corruption of what a religion actually believes as it's given to subjective morals and ethics. *Tyler wasted no time in posing to *Hannah the story of Saul utilizing a medium to consult the dead spirit of the prophet Samuel, but in a relative worldview, arguments can only be relatively effective. Our conversation went many places from there. From *Hannah's various spiritual experiences, her motivation for engaging with the spirits, how she views Jesus, and much more. 

When I asked her how she understands Jesus in her worldview, she warned me that she has a really hot take. I was expecting something along the lines of certain Talmudic traditions that believe Jesus is burning in a pit of human excrement, but *Hannah merely thinks that Jesus was a good teacher that the Romans inflated over time. This is one of the weakest evasions of truth that you can possibly think up. Why would any Roman ever want to create a false story where a Jewish rabbi is the only true God who ends up putting Roman powers to shame countless times? Let alone the overwhelming historical evidence from diverse and early sources attesting to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 

Anyway, *Hannah, at the sight of historical evidence opposing her beliefs, retreated into the comfortable claim that we can't know anything in history because we weren't there. I gave the typical push back to this, selecting a historical figure that's unanimously accepted as factually existing that she hasn't seen personally, but she refused to acknowledge the fallacy of her reasoning. Thinking back, I wish I would've thought to use the example of Holocaust deniers, as she certainly would've connected with that personally, but on my feet, I just used George Washington as an example. 

Our conversation continued to unfold as the evening progressed, but *Hannah's clear lack of openness to any evidential truth claim led me to further inquire about her motives, means, and introduction to medium work hoping an internal inconsistency within her worldview would provide a unique entrance into challenging her worldview, as it was clear external evidence bore no weight for her. The conversation was cut to a close as the celebration broke out into dancing, but I pray that the God and King of all spirits might bring into His kingdom *Hannah and her family - protecting them from the powers of darkness she is partnering with currently.